• About Me

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    BIG NEWS!

    The Rich Lab is open at the University of Connecticut

    The Rich Lab website is now live! Developments in my research and lab will be updated there. This website will remain active as an intermediary.

     

    If you wish to express preliminary interest in joining the lab, please do not email me directly, but instead fill out this Google Form. This will allow me to keep an organized list of interested parties and ensure I keep everyone in the loop as positions become officially posted.

    Thanks for visiting my personal website!

    As a Computational Neuroscientist, I work to apply my mathematical expertise to the study of neuroscience. My research focuses on understanding the role of biological diversity in driving the reliability of brain function, and how disruptions to that diversity can lead to neuropathology. Check out the video on the left for a recently recorded presentation of my research.

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    From February-December 2023 I worked as a Research Fellow at SickKids Research Institute, in the Neurosciences & Mental Health Research Program, under the supervision of Dr. Steven Prescott. My work at SickKids involved synthesizing the Prescott Lab's expertise in the study of neuronal degeneracy and homeostasis with my expertise in the study of neuronal microcircuits in both physiological and pathological settings.

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    From June 2018 until January 2023, I worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Division of Clinical and Computational Neuroscience at the Krembil Brain Institute (formerly Toronto Western Research Institute), part of the University Hospital Network and affiliated with the University of Toronto. This research was under the joint supervision of Dr. Taufik Valiante, Dr. Frances Skinner, and Dr. Jeremie Lefebvre.

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    Here you'll find links to my publications along with other details about me, including an up-to-date CV. If you are interested in learning more about my research, contact me via e-mail or on LinkedIn!

     

    Stay up to date on the Canadian Computational Neuroscience Spotlight, the virtual academic meeting I am lead-organizer of, here.

  • Research Interests

    My research lies in the field of Computational Neuroscience with a focus on topics, both broad and specific, outlined below.

    Computational Neuroscience

    A diverse and vibrant field of research involving the application of interdisciplinary tools from fields including mathematics and computer science to the study of neuroscientific problems. All of my research, ranging from the "abstract" study of synchrony in simplified inhibitory neural networks to the "applied" study of the initiation of seizure in patients with epilepsy, falls under this broad banner.

    Neuronal Networks

    The brain is made up of billions of individual units known as neurons, and a wealth of research indicates that information is processed and encoded in the brain not just by the activity of individual neurons, but in the more complex dynamics of networks of neurons. Computational neuroscience is uniquely situated to understand the mechanisms underlying these dynamics, which are often difficult to directly study.

    Neuronal Diversity

    As our ability to experimentally characterize the brain rapidly improves, so does our understanding of the immense diversity of even similarly classified neurons. Using computational and mathematical tools, my research aims to understand the impact this diversity has on the healthy dynamics of neuronal networks, and understand how pathological disruptions to this diversity contribute to neuropsychiatric disorders.

    Epilepsy

    A major application of my research into neuronal networks and diversity is in the computational study of epilepsy, particularly the unintuitive pathways by which seizure can arise. This involves utilizing experimental data, from both rodents and humans, to inform and constrain the computational investigation, which ensures the results of this work have potential clinical applicability for future epilepsy research.

  • Peer-Reviewed Publications

    See my Google Scholar Page for additional details, as well as links to pre-prints.

    Homeira Moradi Chameh, Madeleine Falby, Mandana Movahed, Keon Arbabi, Scott Rich, Liang Zhang, Jeremie Lefebvre, Shreejoy J. Tripathy, Maurizio De Pitta, and Taufik A. Valiante. "Distinctive biophysical features of human cell-types: insights from studies of neurosurgically resected brain tissue." Frontiers in Synaptic Neuroscience 15, 2023.

    DOI: 10.3389/fnsyn.2023.1240834

     

    Happy Inibhunu, Homeira Moradi Chameh, Frances Skinner*, Scott Rich*, and Taufik A. Valiante*. "Hyperpolarization-Activated Cation Channels Shape the Spiking Frequency Preference of Human Cortical Layer 5 Pyramidal Neurons." eNeuro 10 (8), 2023. DOI: 10.1523/ENEURO/0215-23.2023

    *Denotes shared senior authorship.

     

    Axel Hutt, Scott Rich, Taufik A. Valiante, and Jeremie Lefebvre. "Intrinsic neural diversity quenches the dynamic volatility of neural networks." PNAS 120 (28), 2023. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2218841120

     

    Scott Rich, Homeira Moradi Chameh, Jeremie Lefebvre, and Taufik A. Valiante. "Loss of neuronal heterogeneity in epileptogenic human tissue impairs network resilience to sudden changes in synchrony." Cell Reports 39 (8), 2022. DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2022.110863

     

    Homeira Moradi Chameh, Scott Rich, Lihua Wang, Fu-Der Chen, Liang Zhang, Peter L. Carlen, Shreejoy J. Tripathy and Taufik A. Valiante. "Diversity amongst human cortical pyramidal neurons revealed via their sg currents and frequency preferences." Nature Communications, 12 (1), 2021, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-22741-9

     

    Frances K. Skinner, Scott Rich, Anton R. Lunyov, Jeremie Lefebvre and Alexandra Chatzikalymniou. "A Hypothesis for Theta Rhythm Frequency Control in CA1 Microcircuits." Frontiers in Neural Circuits, 15, 2021. DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2021.643360

     

    Scott Rich, Homeira Moradi Chameh, Vladislav Sekulic, Frances K. Skinner and Taufik A. Valiante. "Modeling reveals human-rodent differences in h-current kinetics in cortical layer 5 neurons." Cerebral Cortex, 31 (2), 2021.

    DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhaa261

     

    Scott Rich, Andreea O. Diaconescu, John D. Griffiths, and Milad Lankarany. "Ten simple rules for creating a brand-new virtual academic meeting (even amid a pandemic)." PLOS Computational Biology, 16 (12), 2020.

    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008485

     

    Scott Rich, Axel Hutt, Frances K. Skinner, Taufik A. Valiante and Jeremie Lefebvre. "Neurostimulation stabilizes spiking neural networks by disrupting seizure-like oscillatory transitions." Scientific Reports, 10 (1), 2020.

    DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-72335-6

     

    Scott Rich, Homeira Moradi Chameh, Marjan Rafiee, Katie Ferguson, Frances K. Skinner and Taufik A. Valiante. "Inhibitory network bistability explains increased interneuronal activity prior to seizure onset." Frontiers in Neural Circuits, 13, 2020. DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2019.00081

     

    Scott Rich, Michal Zochowski and Victoria Booth. "Effects of Neuromodulation on Excitatory-Inhibitory Neural Network Dynamics Depend on Network Connectivity Structure.'' Journal of Nonlinear Science, 2018.

    DOI: 10.1007/s00332-017-9438-6

     

    Scott Rich, Michal Zochowski and Victoria Booth. "Dichotomous dynamics in E-I networks with strongly and weakly intra-connected inhibitory neurons.'' Frontiers in Neural Circuits, 11, 2017. DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2017.00104

     

    Scott Rich, Victoria Booth and Michal Zochowski. "Intrinsic cellular properties and connectivity density determine variable clustering patterns in randomly connected inhibitory neural networks.'' Frontiers in Neural Circuits, 10, 2016. DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2016.00082

    Thesis

  • Curriculum Vitae

    For additional details on topics such as my teaching experience, grants and awards, and research skills, please see my CV.

    Last updated: January 17, 2024

  • Other Publications

    Opinion pieces, blog posts, and other media relating to academia

  • Research Talks

  • Education

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    University of Michigan

    2012 - 2018

    PhD: Applied and Interdisciplinary Mathematics

    Certificate: Computational Discovery and Engineering

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    Duke University

    2008 - 2012

    B.S.: Mathematics

    Minors: Chemistry and Philosophy

  • Follow me on Twitter/X!

    @RichCompNeuro

  • Contact Me

    If you are interested in learning more about my research, discussing potential collaborations, or inquiring about future work, please do so via e-mail!

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